In Week 16, the Colts won in Kansas City, 23-7, thanks in part to four Chiefs turnovers. Colts coach Chuck Pagano called Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles “public enemy No. 1” before the teams’ last meeting and still holds Charles (1,980 total yards) in the same regard. The Chiefs have the best road record against the spread this season (7-1). However, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has a 13-3 mark overall at home and 12-4 record against the spread in his first two seasons. The Colts finished the season strongly, winning three straight and four of their last five, and don’t forget they posted huge wins at home against the respective top seeds in this year’s playoffs: first against Seattle in Week 5, then Denver in Week 7.

The pick: Colts, 27-20

SAINTS (11-5) at EAGLES (10-6), 6:10 p.m.

Favorite: Eagles by 21/2

TV: NBC

The Eagles, led by Nick Foles and coach Chip Kelly’s fast-paced offense, exceeded expectations this season en route to the NFC East title and have won seven of their last eight games. The forecast for kickoff is 24 degrees with light winds and no precipitation. Many think the cold will freeze Drew Brees & Co., and there’s no bigger Jekyll & Hyde team as far as home-and-road play than New Orleans. The Saints (8-0 at home overall) are 3-5 on the road and just 1-7 against the spread. New Orleans, which averaged 34 points per game at home, scored 17.8 ppg away from the Superdome. However, this is the postseason. The Saints will earn their first playoff road win after five failures.

The pick: Saints, 31-24

— McClatchy-Tribune

He’s been cracking jokes, encouraging laughter and trying to put football in perspective. He does not want today’s playoff game to change the routine, so he is imploring the Colts to make this business as usual — even with the Chiefs coming to town for a wild-card game.

“It’s no time to pressure up. It’s no time to get outside of anything you’ve done at this point,” Pagano said. “You come in, you meet, you have a walkthrough, you practice well and then you play well. Don’t do anything different. Just understand what’s at stake. It is one-and-done. That doesn’t mean go play tight and those types of things and put any added pressure on yourself. You do that and you’re not going to play well.”

With a 24-9 loss to Baltimore in last year’s wild-card game, the Colts youngsters learned some key lessons that have helped this time around.

“There can be a little more focus during the week. There can be some more distractions. That’s where you really need to sort of hunker down,” quarterback Andrew Luck said. “As far as playing the game and practice, we’ve gotten to this point doing some things well. Let’s keep doing those.”

Former Colts coach Tony Dungy usually told players that most playoff games are lost rather than won and the teams that fare best stick to the plan. Translation: Trying to do too much will only get you and your teammates in trouble.

Many of Dungy’s pupils, including NFL sacks champ Robert Mathis, still abide by that philosophy. And when it comes from the mouth of someone who has played in Super Bowls and won one, the words carry more clout.

“You can be too loose to where you’re overconfident, arrogant. But you can be too tight to where you’re wound up and you can’t play football that way,” Mathis said. “You have to have fun. This is a kid’s game so you have to approach it as such. Have fun. Just do what you got here. That’s what I always tell my young guys. Do what got you here and you’ll be all right.”